ASIANish

We left late Friday evening from Hong Kong, and we flew Air Asia (a low cost carrier) into Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Air Asia: Low Cost Carrier

Although we saved some $$$, Air Asia is a pretty ghetto experience in my opinion. Although the plane itself was fine, the rest of the experience was "unique". If you've ever flown Southwest Airlines, you know there are no assigned seats, but during the boarding process you're assigned different letters and numbers which designates your boarding group. Air Asia has no such designation. Basically, once someone runs to the front to form a line, everyone in the waiting area runs as fast as they can to "queue up" regardless if the plane is ready to board or not.

Since we were new to the "process", we were patiently seated in the waiting area, listening for a boarding announcement. All of a sudden, a passenger runs to the front of the gate and then everyone in the waiting area starts running as well. There was no announcement, and no indication that the plane had even arrived. Quite a strange experience.

We soon learned that if you paid more upfront, you would get to "queue up" in the Express line, but after traveling on Air Asia for the past week, we soon found out that Express really doesn't mean much, other than less money in your pocketbook.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

After the 4 hour flight from Hong Kong, we arrived into the LCCT (low cost carrier terminal) airport at 1:30 AM in Kuala Lumpur (or KL as it's more affectionately called by the locals). After retrieving our luggage and exchanging our Hong Kong dollars for some Malaysian ringgits, we looked for a cab.

Taxi Cabs in KL

In Kuala Lumpur, the cab situation is a bit sketchy. Since there has been a lot of corruption with cab drivers using "rocket" meters, many of the cabs stopped using meters altogether. Instead, from the airport you have to find a booth that will sell you a pre-paid ticket from the airport to your destination. Since we flew in late, there was an additional surcharge; so we ended up paying 92 ringgits ($26.66 USD) for a 45 minute drive from the airport to middle of Kuala Lumpur.

It's unfortunate that the airport is so far away from the main part of town, but we were lucky to get a great cab driver that made the ride a bit more interesting. The name of our cab driver was Zainal (012-470 7184), and he drove a standard 4 door compact taxi. Since a large majority of the taxis in KL are natural gas and the tank takes half the "bonnet" (aka trunk), our luggage wouldn't fit; so I rode up front while Eleanor sat in the back with the luggage in the seat next to her.

Zainal spoke english very well, which we soon discovered was not the norm. He was also very knowledgeable of the surrounding cities, buildings, and history of KL. If we had more time, I would definitely have booked him for a whole day as a tour guide.

As finally made it to the Crown Plaza Hotel at 3 AM. Although it was a very nice room, we didn't a chance to spend much time in it.

Walking around KL

The next day we exchanged more money at the hotel, which had a much better exchange rate than the airport. Then we headed out to explore KL before our 4 PM flight to Langkawi.

The town is surprisingly hilly, so walking around in the heat wasn't as comfortable as Hong Kong or Singapore, but our destination was close by.

Menara Tower (aka KL Tower)

Menara Tower is a telecommunication tower with a beautiful 360° observation deck. The tower is situated on top of a hill, however, at the bottom you can catch a free shuttle that will take you to the base of the tower.

From the base of the KL tower, you can pay 40 ringgits ($11.60 USD) / adult to travel 250 meters up to the observation deck. The view from the KL tower was well worth the money, and they even provide an audio/visual tour via a personal handset and headphones while you make your way around the observation deck.

Petronas Twin Towers

Next we grabbed a taxi from KL tower to the famous Petronas Twin Towers for just 10 ringgits ($2.90 USD) which we pre-paid at the KL tower taxi stop.

The Twin Towers is probably the most well known landmark in Kuala Lumpur. At the base there is a large mall with all sorts of stores. There are high end brands, as well as, brands from all over (US, UK, Asia, etc.). If you want to go up to the observation deck in the Petronas Twin Tower, you have to get tickets in the morning for a late afternoon or evening tour. Since we didn't have the time, we were more than happy with our experience at the KL tower.

After a brisk walk back to the Crown Plaza Hotel, we called up Zainal and headed back to LCCT airport. During our 45 minute ride back, Zainal informed us that the bell boy at the hotel quoted us 80 ringgits ($23.50 USD) which was 10 ringgits more than his standard fee. Apparently, the bell hops are shady as well, and will mark up the taxi drivers rate and then extort the marked up difference from the cab driver when he arrives at the hotel. Your best bet is always to contact the taxi driver yourself from the complementary phones in the lobby of the hotel. Lesson learned.